Dad Rides the Smokeys Again - SMRRR 2013

In what has become a recurring theme, my Dad went to ride, and all he bought back from his trip for me was this stinkin' T-shirt!




Motorcycle Tourer's Fourm 2013 Smokey Mountains Rough Road Ride




Dad's best buds all follow the Motorcycle Tourer's Forum (www.mctourer.com). Dad and his friends normally plan for 3 rides a year. This ride started in Bryson City, NC, and had overnight stops at Tellico Plains, TN, Ellijay, GA, and Helen, GA, before returning to Bryson City. There were 2 routes. One was for newer riders, or riders on bigger bikes. Dad always calls this group the "Easy Riders". The other route was longer and tougher, and Dad calls the hard core guys the "Rock and Rollers". Dad lead the Easy Riders around the course, while the Rock and Rollers had to do their own navigating. The Rock and Roller route used almost all of the Easy Rider sections, plus some lumpy and wet stuff that Dad found when he was scouting for this ride.

Dad is hoping all of the guys who rode will post some of their pictures and tell a few of their own lies. Dad says he wants me to start out with some photos of people.













Dad says you are going to have to wait a while for the story line of the last picture.

Dang! Sorry I missed it. Had business travel in the NE. Looks like you had the usual fun!
Cash

Here is Dad leaving for Bryson City, NC. Dad wanted this picture posted because he is very vain about his truck and trailer.



The ride started at the Ridgetop Inn and Campground. Dad has stayed here many times before. Sanjay is running the place now and he did a great job taking care of Dad and his friends. The Ridgetop is motorcycle friendly! Here is a shot from the parking lot of of the Ridgetop on the morning of the 1st days ride.



Dad says it was foggy and cool down by the Little Tennessee River.



Brian is an Easy Rider who is learning fast. He stood up for this picture because that's what everybody on ADVrider does.


Dad poses with his new-to-him bike on top of Tellico Gap.


Beaver Creek Rd. above Andrews, NC


Pat Simmons rode a R1150GS with all the farkles including driving lights.


Adventure riding fits everybody.


Big Don on Porterfield Gap.


Near the Cherohala Skyway.

The route took us up FS 81, under the Cherohala Skyway then down North River Rd. and River Rd. towards Tellico Plains. The Rock and Rollers turned off North River Rd, went over to Green Cove, then over to Tellico Plains via Bald River Rd. Everything was green except for the wild flowers.







The end of the day found us at the Cherohala Mountain Trails Campground.




CMT was a great place to spend the evening. Mrs B from nearby B&B grocery catered supper for our group. We had BBQ, beans, potato salad, and lemonade. It was ummmm good.

a wonderful place in this country to ride. Very much enjoying this thread already.

Thanks for sharing with us

Dad said that Day 2 started with a super breakfast from Mrs. B catered at the CMT campground. Everybody loved the CMT stop and we will stay there again.

Almost ready to go:


The first dirt road of the day was Witt Rd. Witt Rd. is becoming well known because it is on the TAT and it has a infamous creek crossing.

Pats GS splashes through the 1st of 4 creek crossings on Witt Rd:


The group was separated for ~30 minutes while some of them worked on Tom's flat tire. Dad says he took that time to take some "art" pictures.









With the flat tire fixed and the group back together, we made a big deal out of Witt Rd. creek crossing number 4.


Dad said that he was not sure they would have even slowed down for this creek except that so much has been written about it.


Uncle Jimmy (old as dirt) was impatient and drove right across the middle of the crossing - the forbidden zone. The consensus of the rest of the group was to cross on the far right where there was an exposed ridge of rock a rider could use to paddle on (if needed). We did decide to bulldog the R1150GS across and used some extra hands for that.


Dad said they took this group photo at the #4 creek crossing.

Dad says some of his riding buddies have been home long enough to load their pictures and add their side of the story. While we wait, Dad says that they had several riders who had not ridden a MTF ride before this one, so some history might be interesting.

Dad rode and raced trail bikes in the 80's, then he didn't ride for years while he helped with kids and school activities. When Dad was ready to ride again, he bought a street bike. Dad used the street bike to travel to the NC mountains and ride the twisties. Dad said that while he rode the mountain roads, he kept seeing these gravel roads going up the mountains. In 2003, Dad bought a BMW F650 and started exploring those gravel roads.







Dad says he had so much fun that he wanted to share this kind of riding with his friends. All of this lead to the first Motorcycle Tourer's Forum first rough road ride. Coincidentally, Hurricane Ivan came through the night before the ride started. Dad says it was scary in the Ridgetop Inn that night. Power went out around 300AM. Some of the shingles blew off the roof of the inn. Dad said that he expected that when he got up the next morning, everyone would be ready to go home. Instead. they wanted to ride. See that story here:

http://www.mctourer.com/rides/dirt2004/SMR_Dirt_Ride.html

When the MTF became more formally organized, 3 groups of riders were recognized - Long Distance Riders, Flower Sniffers, and Rough Road Riders. Dad says the RRR group hasn't grown much in size, but they have had a lot of different people ride in their events. Dad says his favorite ride was his first time in Colorado. The next year in Moab was way kool too. This year the MTF RRR committee planned 3 rides - Junction, TX, Buena Vista, CO, and this ride in the Smokeys. We even have a sticker:



Dad says they are planning next year's rides now. Currently, the plan is to ride in Colorado, West Virgina, and Missouri. Dad says that youse ADV weenies are welcome to join the fun.

Dad says he wants to nominate Patrick Simmons as the "Man of the Woods" for this trip. Patrick had practiced a little in the dirt, but this was his first group ride. He rode his R1150GS in from Raliegh, NC. Pat also did most of his on the road sleeping in a tent. Dad says he took Pat up some steep and narrow gravel roads and Pat handled everything with skill and a big grin. Pat sent me a picture he took of his GPS when he got home.



Pat thinks he may have set the top speed trying to surf on that deep stretch of new gravel in the Big Frog Wilderness.

BigDon led our little group of three for four days and I can't say I remember a ride that was more fun. Sure, I busted my ass a couple of times, but since the video has vanished, it didn't happen. Hitting that tree with my head in the real rocky section reminds me that I need to work on my line choices! Our groups' slogan was, "Ride Hard, Eat Often", and boy did we. Helping Fletcher get his chick pics was entertaining and provided many laughs.

We actually went in the Dillard House and asked if we could get in for lunch dressed as we were and smelling as we probably did. That was lunch for us on the last day and it was awesome.

Since I managed to send all my video tits up I'm glad that Don and Andy were able to get some pics. I'd like to thank Dad for setting up the ride and look forward to the next one!! Saw some old friends and made some new ones doing something I really love. What more could you ask for?

Tom
Oriental, NC

I would tell the girls that Fletcher is rich and single and they lined up for the to have their picture taken. BTW, isn't Fletcher cute when he blushes?

This was Johns First MTF RRR. We decided to head out early and get the rocks broke loose. It didn't take long to find this very cool "swinging bridge"




Then it was up, up, up...




We made a quick photo stop at the santeetlah gap


another water crossing...





It was getting warm, so we decided to stop for a cool beverage here...



The lady told us...don't be a drink'n outback! ya here?!



Not us !!!




Everywhere we went, it was green and beautiful....




I think this was my Best Picture of the ride...




Another Mountain Dew Break was made here...




When I stopped here to take a picture, John asked of what??
The beauty was all around....






Cooling off again...



After tackling the golfball sized gravel hill, we stopped for the wonderful veiw here.






I'm going to stop awhile and let a few others join the fun.

For a newbie this ride sure was a lot of fun, beautiful terrain, great folks to ride with and we enjoyed nice weather throughout.

Can't wait to do another one

FNG#2

What a trip, what photos. Simply amazing, I'm currently trying to get in with Boeing here in Charleston, South Carolina. My V-Strom is still in the back of my truck. This is all making me anxious to ride again.

Dad says thanks to youse guys for throwing in on the ride report.

Dad also said he has passed that swinging bridge 50 times and never stopped. He will the next time.

Dad says that after Witt Rd., the Easy Riders took Ducket Ridge Rd., Pike, and Childer's Creek Rd. to get over to TN 30 and the bridge over the Hiwassee River. Don, Fletcher, and Tom split off from the group to ride Kimsey Mountain Highway while the Easy riders went south to 64, East to the powerhouse, and back into the woods on NF 45. What followed was 40 miles of twisty gravel road in the largest wilderness area east of the Mississippi.

Dad says the guys were anxious to find food, water, and gas so they only stopped for a few pictures.







Dad says there was ~5 miles of fresh laid gravel (like you see in the pic above) that made what they were doing seem more like surfing than riding. Pat on the GS had some especially exciting moments when the road got a little steep. Dad says he was ignoring the gravel chatter till some of the other riders showed up at their stop. Gravel this thick, big, and freshly put down was a new experience for the guys from Florida (experienced riders on real dirt bikes) and they were yacking about it too. All present got together at an overlook for a group picture.

Dad told me this story and I am going to share it with you. Dad says I can't let Mom know about this one.

The destination for the night was Ellijay, Ga. Most of the guys were staying at the Best Western Inn. It was about 630P, and several of the riders were in the lobby talking about supper. The senior Adventure Rider present for duty, Fletcher, walked into the lobby wanting beer. He asked the desk lady if they had beer. She replied that they didn't, but that there was a package store nearby. Fletcher responded that he didn't want to dress to ride again, was the package store within walking distance. A voice in the back office sang out, "I'll drive you down there." When the lady came out of the office, she silenced the room! Throw in the fact that she was making beer a reality, and we all felt like we had found the perfect women. I ran and got my camera so I could get their picture when they came back.



Fletcher is a world class Chick Magnet!

What a guy! Go Fletcher

FNG#2

Fletcher isn't finished.